Writing Work Samples

Hi all!  I wanted to share with you some of my kids' writing samples.  I think these writing prompts are really working.  I can't believe that at the beginning of kindergarten it was a challenge just to get them to write one word!  Now look at what they're doing!

If you're interested in purchasing these, you can find them on my TPT store.

Have a wonderful Wednesday night!

Happy Easter!

Hi everyone!  I hope you're all having a very wonderful Easter.  Many shops are having sales right now on TPT, including mine for 20% off all products.

Since we're on Easter break, I was able to make a new product that I'm very proud of, called Writing Picture Prompts - Fantasy.  My students liked my spring writing prompts but were asking me for things like dragons, unicorns, princesses, 3 Pigs, etc.  All the research says that things are much more motivational when the ideas come directly from the kids themselves.  Hence the new writing prompts!

Ok, enough about that.  I want to tell you a little about my trip.  Poconos Stream is a destination honeymoon/couples resort.  Everything is especially designed with couples in mind.  The rooms are huge, and some of them have pools within your own suite.  Ours also had a champagne tower, star ceiling, tanning bed, steam room, sauna, and circular bed.  The pool area that was not in our room had beautiful waterfall jacuzzis.  There are all kinds of games during the day, as well as night-time entertainment such as comedians, beer tastings, trivia, and more.  The wait staff is so nice, you feel like you're a millionaire.  There was one waiter who was so sweet to me.  Each time he put down a dish, he told me exactly where he was placing it.  This was so nice for me, because most waiters don't even talk to me.  They ask my husband "What would she like?"  I asked our waiter if he had ever worked with blind folks, and he told me that he did work at a camp for kids with all kinds of disabilities.  I wish more sighted people knew that they can speak directly to a blind person.  Anyway, it was an absolutely fabulous trip.

I'd love to hear if you did something special for spring break!

Easter Inspiration

"Pete the Cat: Big Easter Adventure" Book Cover

This is an EGGcelent book!  Ok, I'm sorry, but it is about Pete the Cat helping the Easter bunny with eggs, so I couldn't help the pun.  We can't use candy this year at my school :-( so I decided to have the Easter bunny wrap a gift and leave it with a note for my students.  They had written letters the day before to the Easter Bunny, asking him to stop by our classroom.  Here are different levels that you can use with high, middle, or low kids.  Choose the paper that is right for your class.

Letter to Easter Bunny by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

I also wanted to do some patterning with my children, because I really think it helps with problem solving and logical thinking.  You're probably thinking "But it's not in Common Core, so why do it?"  I don't entirely agree that patterning should have been taken out of the kindergarten curriculum in the first place, and I know they still teach it in pre-k (at least in my school system).  We sang a song called "Everybody Do A Pattern" by Dr. Jean.  The song uses clapping, snapping and stomping, so it's very kinesthetic for wiggly kinders.  Then the children made different patterns by using pastel-colored, laminated eggs that I made the night before.  If you don't feel like cutting out paper eggs and laminating them, simply use the plastic eggs that you can buy in any grocery store around this time of year.  I think that would probably be better for the children anyway, but I just didn't have time to go to the store that day.  As an assessment to see if the children understood the lesson, I used this paper:

Pattern Egg by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

I also sent home these two different levels of sight word board games.  My higher students got the first grade board game, and my on-grade-level and below-grade-level students got the kindergarten board game.

Easter Sight Word Board Games & Worksheets

I'm going to the Poconos this week for a little rest and relaxation.  I would love to hear what all of you are doing with your students for Easter this year!

Dear Diary

Diary Books

Hi all!  It's been a while.  I just finished a Lego Education presentation for Rainbow Station.  It went really well.  I wish I could present more.

I was doing a unit on writing letters in Writing Fundamentals, and I remembered that I had some books about diary writing.  I wasn't sure if Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin would hold the students attention - it's a pretty long book.  I was so pleasantly surprised, though, when we read it.  My kindergarten students got the jokes and were entranced by the worm character.  I thought that if the book worked, I would make diaries for all of my kids simply by putting the following cover on a composition book.

Diary Cover Template by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

The funny, marvelous thing is that before I even mentioned my idea to the kids, they started asking "Can we do what the worm's doing?", "Could we write stuff like that?", "Can we have diaries?", and "Can you make us diaries?"  I thought for a second, and said "Well... I suppose, if you'd really like to write in diaries, I could make them for you if you're really good."  This was really one of those moments where I just wanted to shout "Yes!!"  I played it cool, though, and continued the week with Diary of a Spider and Diary of a Fly.  By the time I put 24 covers on composition books, my students were bursting with excitement to write!  I realized that it's important for my assistant and I to have diaries too, and to show the students what we are writing in them.  Here is a sample page from my diary that I showed my students to get them started.

Diary Model by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

I'd love to hear what you're doing for writing!

Gingerbread Bear

Book Cover of "The Gingerbread Bear"

Hi everyone. and Merry Christmas!  A wonderful friend came into my classroom last week and handed me The Gingerbread Bear by Robert Dennis.  She knows that I collect gingerbread books and couldn't have given me a nicer Christmas present.  My students were really enthusiastic about pointing out all the similarities and differences between this book and other gingerbread books.



I don't want to give away the whole story, but I want to tell you a few of the funny things that happened when we read the book.  The setting of this story is a national park, and there's a park ranger and his family that make and chase after the gingerbread bear.  Kevin asked "What's a park ranger?"  Giyhana said "You know, like a Power Ranger, except he's a Park Ranger.  Get it?"  After I stopped laughing, this led into a great discussion about what park rangers do for a living.  I thought this was really neat, because this usually wouldn't come up in a community helper lesson.  Also, my students this year are so ruthless when it comes to gingerbread stories!  They always want the gingerbread character to get eaten at the end, and that is so different from every other class I've had before.  When I asked them why, Matthew spoke up right away and said "Mrs. Dudley, you do know they're just cookies, right?"  Seriously, his tone was so full of concern about my "misunderstanding".  Like, why would I not want to eat a gingerbread cookie?

Two songs that would go really great with this book are:  "Goin' on a Bear Hunt" by Greg & Steve, and "Cool Bear Hunt" by Dr. Jean.  I just saw Greg & Steve at the NAEYC conference, and I actually got to talk to them.  I told them that I've been using their music for at least 20 years now.  They signed my CD's and shook my hand; it was really nice.

I just created a new package of writing picture prompts with word banks on TPT.  A freebie is also available that just happens to be about a polar bear.  After Christmas, I'm going to look for some nonfiction books about bears and I'll let you all know what I find.

I will be going to Syracuse this year for Christmas to visit with family.  I hope all of you have a safe and happy holiday!

Writing Fundamentals

I feel like I'm coming back to a long-lost friend.  I don't know why, but I have to say that after 22 years of teaching, this year has been the most overwhelming.  Friends, why is this happening?  Are you feeling overwhelmed?  Is it Common Core?  Is it that we're testing way too much?

Anyway, we started Writing Fundamentals this year and I've been pulling my hair out.  I'm desperately trying to understand how to get kindergartners to write more.  In my struggles, I made up a couple new papers that you all might like.  The book that inspired me was Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk.

The book really stresses that you should write about what you know.  I really appreciate that message.  I mean, it's more motivating to pick your own topics, and you can picture things better if you know the subject matter.  So I thought, why not make up some papers for what you love, what you dream about, and what makes you happy.  These are all topics that my students really got into.  They couldn't wait to go back to their seats and write!

I Dream About by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

Heart in 3 Parts by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

What Makes You Happy by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

Another thing I just tried yesterday was a lesson on labeling.  Another teacher in my building, Lauren, found this idea on Pinterest.  You write the body part labels in front of the children as they shout out parts of you that they want labeled.  I also asked them what letter the word started with, since this is the beginning of the year.  One little girl even knew how to spell "foot".  It was really fun, and the students went back to their seats with a Body Parts Folder that I created, and proceeded to make their own labeled drawings of their bodies.

Oh, I almost forgot that I used the songs "The Body Rock" and "Body Talk" by Greg & Steve as engagement for the activity.  They worked really nicely to prepare the students for a lesson on body parts and the labeling activity.

I'd love to know some ideas from all of you for early writing.  Please leave a comment below.

Concerning Cats and Freebies

"Bad Kitty" Book Cover

Hi everyone!  Do you ever feel like you really want to blog but your life is just so intense and crazy that you don't have time?  Well, I have one more week of summer school, then one week off, and then regular school starts.  Summer school has been pretty nice, though.  We have 22 kindergartners who are going into first grade, and we split them so they can receive more attention.  So really, my highest amount of kids at one time is 12.  This allows me to have full conversations with the children and find out unique things about each and every one of them.  Many of the children told me that they had pets at home, and how much they enjoyed taking care of them.  We did one complete day about dogs, another complete day about horses, and last week we did a day about cats.

I looked through my things for a funny book about cats, and found Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel.  Summer school is overloaded on boys this year, and they really loved the naughtiness of the cat.  See, in this alphabet cat book the owner runs out of cat food and tries to substitute A to Z healthy foods.  Kitty reacts badly, performing a complete list of bad A to Z actions around the house such as clawing curtains and hurling hair balls.  After that, the mother comes home with A to Z appropriate foods for the cat, who is so grateful that it carries out nice A to Z actions around the house.  I would definitely use this book over two days, because it is a little long to read in one sitting.  But if you're looking for a great alphabet book which is humorous, this is it!

I made a guided reading book to go along with the cat theme, focusing on position words.  Now, you may think "Why would kindergartners who are going to first grade still need position words?"  I was surprised too!  But I found that some of my ESOL children did not know the words "between" or "above", for example.  The book also helps them to see it in context.  Here it is:

Cat Positions by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

During our morning message, we also talked about cats and what the students would do if they had one.  I made sure that every student was able to express their idea, in a complete sentence or two.  Then we used this paper to write about our ideas:

Cat Writing Prompts by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

I didn't use it last week, but there's a great song by Dr. Jean called "Kitty Cat Position Scat" that completely ties in with position words.

Finally, I've been thinking more and more about Common Core and writing for the beginning of the school year, so I created an ABC folder with hollow letters, dotted fonts, pictures, and words.  I'm really satisfied with the way it turned out.  Let me know what you think.

What are you doing to get ready for school, or what new products have you created for the upcoming school year?

Amusement Park Writing

Book Cover of "Tickets to Ride: An Alphabetic Amusement"

I'm so excited about this post, because I simply love roller coasters.  The anticipation, the stomach-dropping fear, and the spontaneous laughter when you shoot down the tracks at high speed feel so awesome!  You might say "Why do a post about amusement parks?"  Sounds a little strange, right?  But it all started when I got back from spring break and my kids were talking about what fun they had at Six Flags and Kings Dominion.  Actually, they couldn't stop talking about amusement parks.  We spent about two minutes doing a turn-and-talk, and then every single child wanted to talk about their favorite ride.  It was just one of those times when I knew I wasn't going to get to what I actually had planned for that day.  Then I stopped and thought "Wow!  They are so into this!"  So I asked them "Hey guys, would you like to write about amusement parks?"  They started clapping, cheering, and shouting "Yes!  Let's write about amusement parks!"  I knew I didn't have the materials for that day, so I told them to give me two days, and that we would do some special amusement-park-centered projects.

The first thing I found was the book pictured above, Tickets to Ride: An Alphabetic Amusement by Mark Rogalski.  This is an alphabet book, but it also has lots of hidden treats in it.  There's a highlighted animal and a concealed number in each illustration, and a surprise map at the end.  This is to timely because I'm teaching about maps right now in social studies.  I really enjoy showing the kids maps about things they care about, such as parks, zoos, and fairy tale maps.  I think it's so much cooler than showing kindergartners maps of their state.  I've tried doing state maps, and the kids just don't understand and don't care about what they're looking at; it's too abstract.  I notice with picture maps they really get into them and even start asking each other really great geography questions.

There's a song by Jack Hartmann called "Roller Coaster Ride" that offers an opportunity for your children to role play going on a roller coaster ride.  The song really tells you what to do, step by step, and the kids will catch on quickly because they've been on roller coasters before.

I made a brand-new amusement park writing folder with all of the rides and treats that the children could think of.  I was extremely happy with the way it came out, and decided to bundle it in a Warm Weather Writing Package on TPT.  Here are a few samples of what my kids did with the amusement park folder:

Amusement Park Samples by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

Finally, I thought it would be really motivating for the children to also have their own guided reading amusement park book.  Here it is.  I hope your students love it as much as mine.

Amusement Park by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

Let me know if you like these ideas, and I'm also really interested to know what your children are writing about!

Continuing Cupcakes

Wow!  My kids really got into the book If You Give a Cat a Cupcake.  We went around and made up our own story, and my little darlings were just coming up with so many creative ideas - I'm so proud of them!  I can't believe that this is the same group of kids from the beginning of the year who couldn't speak a whole sentence of English.  Here is another freebie that I used to go with the book.  I like making and using these papers because they help me find out if my kids truly are remembering details from the story.

Graphic Organizer Cat Cupcake by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

Also, I've been concentrating so much on teaching reading, listening and speaking that I haven't been doing as much with creative writing as I should.  I mean, we did make Valentine's Cards for our friends and family, and that gave them an opportunity to write sentences, but I want to move away from the children copying sentences and get more into completing sentence starters.  So, today I made this sentence starter for the book that they really loved last week.

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake Writing Prompt by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

I'd love to hear about writing ideas that all of you have.  Please, if you can, leave me a note below!

Dynamic Dinosaurs

Cover of the book "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight"

Cover of the book "How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You?"

It's great to use stories that the kids can act out as you read.  The illustrations are so colorful and the topic is very stimulating for the children.  My pre-k students were spellbound!  I think both of these stories would also work wonderfully for kindergarten or first grade.  Here are two writing prompts that you can use after you read the book.

Dinosaur Writing Prompts

The song "Dinosaur Boogie" by Dr. Jean is fabulous for getting your students up and moving and teaching them dinosaur facts at the same time.  "5 Big Dinosaurs" by Jack Hartmann counts backwards from 5 and has a really rockin' beat that you can use as a fingerplay or as a subtraction song where 5 children ("dinosaurs") stand up in the front of the room and you take away 1 "dinosaur" each time the song tells you to.  "Dinosaur Hunt" by Aaron Glassman is pretty similar to "Going On A Bear Hunt" or "Going On A Lion Hunt."  It reviews position words and fits in perfectly with any dinosaur theme.

I also used large plastic dinosaurs and snap cubes to teach the concept of height and length.  We estimated how many blocks we thought the dinosaur would be, and then measured the actual height or length.  If you're working on patterning and have dinosaur manipulatives, here are a couple of fab pattern worksheets.

Pattern Dinosaur

If you're interested, I have a new Dinosaur Unit on TPT that contains guided reading books on multiple levels as well as worksheets that cover a variety of kindergarten-level and pre-k-level skills.

The Button Box

The cover of the book "The Button Box" by Margarette Reid

The Button Box by Margarette Reid is a great book to use if you're working on sorting by attributes.  I always use it with real buttons, because I think it really allows the children to experience the wonder of classifying by shape, texture, size, color, sparkles, button holes, etc.  I think sometimes we fall into the rut of only sorting by color.  When I still had my sight, color sorting was the first thing I thought of to do with the kids.  The problem was that if I asked the kids what sorting was, they would reply "That's when you put the yellow ones with the yellow ones."  Although that answer is correct, I think it's really important for them to realize that you can sort or classify by many different factors, not just color.

This year, my students really got into the activity.  They were so happy to find buttons that were the same that they put them in my hands and said "Feel my buttons!  I have stars!", "I have smooth buttons", or "I have wood buttons!"  I was so proud of them, especially because their language has improved so much since August - almost 90% of my students did not speak English when they entered my class.

Here is a book that I used in kindergarten for guided reading.  The students can shadow-write the sentence for most of the book, and then at the end they write their own sentence and draw their own pictures of buttons.  I hope your kids enjoy this.
I See Buttons Writing